How to Make a Clay Diya at Home

This Clay Diya Tutorial or clay lamps for Diwali tutorial is an easy kid friendly craft that is perfect to celebrate Diwali! Tutorial that is an easy, that is perfect for Diwali! Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, we light lamps all around our house to celebrate the victory of good over evil!

In today’s tutorial I share two options of supplies making this easier and fun for kids to make. I also brought a fun rainbow twist to my Clay Diyas and love how they turned out. Make sure you also check out all of the other Diwali Craft Tutorials and Printables I have on my blog!

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What do yo need to Make Clay Diyas?

To make your Clay Diya you can choose to use Air Dry Clay or Model Magic. The Air dry clay creates more of a Traditional Terracotta Clay Diya design. The Model Magic clay creates more of a Modern Clay Diya design, and is lighter in weight once it dries as well.

To decorate your Handmade Diyas, you can use gems, paints, pearls or even dimensional paints to add texture!

clay lamps for diwali TUTORIAL 🪔

To make your Clay Diya, grab a ball of clay that is about the size of a lime or golf ball. Knead it well in between the palms of your hands.

TIP: Once you grab your ball of clay to work with, make sure you shut the lid on the rest of the clay in the box.

Roll the ball of clay into a smooth round shape and then use your thumb to create an indent in the center.
Press evenly all around the center indent to make a small bowl shape.
Pinch to create a pointed tip that makes the traditional Diya shape.
You can decorate your Diya simply by drawing lines using a toothpick or you can use paints, pearls or tiny mirrors too! Be creative 🙂

TIP: If you pulled out too much clay to work with by mistake and it starts drying before you get to it here is a hack. Dip a kitchen towel or paper towel in water, squeeze out the excess water and then wrap the clay in this wet towel till you are ready to use it.

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Let your Clay Diyas dry overnight to harden. There is no need to bake these in an oven, the clay will harden once dried.

I like to place the wet Clay Diyas on a paper towel or paper plate that will allow them to dry evenly.

ALSO READ: How To Make Easy Diwali Cookies

CLAY DIYA CRAFTING WITH KIDS:

For crafting with my kids, I switched out the Air dry clay with Model Magic instead. The Model Magic comes in so many colors, and kids will love it! Also, the Model magic is easier for kids to use and mold, it doesn’t stain the hands as much as the air dry clay does.

My kids and I crafted to create a rainbow of colorful of Diyas to decorate our home. We added dots of glue to adhere sparkling gems to each Diya.

NOTE: If you are using Model Magic Clay the diyas will take a bit longer to dry. It might be 36 to 72 hours of drying time depending on the weather where you are.

Light up your lamps easily with a sparkly Tea light

Watch the Clay Diya video: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj3GMHDDPIc/

More Indian Crafts to do with your kids:

These Rainbow Clay Diyas turned out super cute, both my girls loved this craft and I loved decorating our home for Diwali. I wish you all a Happy Diwali and I hope you celebrate the victory of light over darkness with your family and friends!